diff --git a/src/Yavsc.Blogs/Controllers/UserSearchApiController.cs b/src/Yavsc.Blogs/Controllers/UserSearchApiController.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e99441e0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Yavsc.Blogs/Controllers/UserSearchApiController.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Authorization;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc;
+using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
+using Yavsc.Models;
+
+namespace Yavsc.Blogs.Controllers
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Central user search endpoint used by client address books
+    /// (PostIt.Desktop, future PostIt.Browser CLI, etc.).
+    ///
+    /// <para>Live in <c>Yavsc.Blogs</c> rather than <c>Yavsc.Api</c>
+    /// because Yavsc.Api is not yet enabled in production; future
+    /// migration is mechanical (the namespace and route prefix are
+    /// the only ties to the host project).</para>
+    ///
+    /// <para>Authorisation: any authenticated caller can search.
+    /// Results include <c>Email</c> on a best-effort basis —
+    /// the field is included because the address-book use case
+    /// (composing a circle membership, sending an invite) needs
+    /// it. The data set is the entire user table of the
+    /// instance, which on Yavsc's single-tenant deployments is
+    /// a closed community where users already know each other.
+    /// Multi-tenant deployments should gate this controller
+    /// behind a tenant-scoped authorisation policy before
+    /// exposing it.</para>
+    /// </summary>
+    [Produces("application/json")]
+    [Route("api/user-search")]
+    [Authorize]
+    public class UserSearchApiController : Controller
+    {
+        private readonly ApplicationDbContext _context;
+
+        public UserSearchApiController(ApplicationDbContext context)
+        {
+            _context = context;
+        }
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Search users by display name and/or email.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <param name="q">Substring filter on
+        /// <see cref="ApplicationUser.FullName"/> or
+        /// <see cref="ApplicationUser.UserName"/> (case-insensitive,
+        /// contains). Optional.</param>
+        /// <param name="e">Exact filter on
+        /// <see cref="ApplicationUser.Email"/> (case-insensitive
+        /// equality). Optional.</param>
+        /// <param name="take">Maximum number of results, capped at
+        /// 100. Default 25.</param>
+        // GET: api/user-search?q=foo&e=bar@example.com&take=25
+        [HttpGet]
+        public async Task<IEnumerable<UserSearchResultDto>> SearchAsync(
+            [FromQuery] string? q = null,
+            [FromQuery] string? e = null,
+            [FromQuery] int take = 25)
+        {
+            take = Math.Clamp(take, 1, 100);
+
+            IQueryable<ApplicationUser> query = _context.Users;
+
+            if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(e))
+            {
+                // Email is treated as an exact match — most address
+                // book callers already know the email they're
+                // searching for and we don't want to surface a
+                // long tail of partial matches.
+                var normalised = e.Trim();
+                query = query.Where(u => u.Email != null && u.Email.ToLower() == normalised.ToLower());
+            }
+
+            if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(q))
+            {
+                var needle = q.Trim();
+                query = query.Where(u =>
+                    (u.FullName != null && u.FullName.ToLower().Contains(needle.ToLower())) ||
+                    (u.UserName != null && u.UserName.ToLower().Contains(needle.ToLower())));
+            }
+
+            var results = await query
+                .OrderBy(u => u.FullName ?? u.UserName)
+                .Take(take)
+                .Select(u => new UserSearchResultDto
+                {
+                    Id = u.Id,
+                    UserName = u.UserName ?? string.Empty,
+                    FullName = u.FullName,
+                    Avatar = u.Avatar,
+                    Email = u.Email,
+                })
+                .ToListAsync();
+
+            return results;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Search-result shape. Flat DTO with no navigation
+    /// properties so the JSON stays small even if the user
+    /// table grows.
+    /// </summary>
+    public sealed class UserSearchResultDto
+    {
+        public string Id { get; set; } = string.Empty;
+        public string UserName { get; set; } = string.Empty;
+        public string? FullName { get; set; }
+        public string? Avatar { get; set; }
+        public string? Email { get; set; }
+    }
+}
\ No newline at end of file